Drywall joint compound has long been used in building construction to create various surface textures on ceilings and walls. Different drywall textures, such as orange peel, knockdown, or stucco, provide different aesthetic and acoustic effects. Devices and apparatuses for applying drywall joint compound, also known as “drywall mud,” exist in the prior art. These devices typically mix drywall texture material and water to form drywall mud and then mix the mud with a stream of compressed air, which forces the mud out of a nozzle onto the surface to be coated. Other devices exist that utilize pre-mixed drywall mud.
Drywall texture application devices are commonly designed for commercial uses including, for example, applying texture to large surface areas such as building interior and exterior walls. These devices are typically mounted on a vehicle bed or towed as a trailer. Such devices tend to be costly and require extensive training in order to be used safely, making them impractical for personal use. Therefore, it is desirable to provide a device that allows an untrained individual to safely and easily apply drywall joint compound to a surface to create a desired drywall texture.
Portable drywall sprayers known as hoppers that feeds texture material to an attached spray gun. These devices typically rely on gravity to feed drywall mud vertically from the hopper to the spray nozzle. Consequently, this and similar devices are difficult to use for coating ceilings and other overhead surfaces because tilting the hopper horizontally interrupts the flow of texture material to the spray gun. It is therefore desired to provide a device that can be easily filled with drywall joint compound and can be used to apply texture to ceilings and other overhead surfaces.
Other types of drywall texture devices exist in the art, including shoulder-mounted texture sprayers. Such devices tend to be unwieldy and cause difficulty when applying texture to ceilings or other overhead surfaces. Another drawback of this and other similar devices is that they utilize an inflatable bag to move drywall mud to a spray gun, which is prone to rupture and may cause the device to fail. Therefore, it is desired to provide a handheld drywall texture application device with minimal mechanical elements that is designed such that it can be easily and comfortably used to apply texture to ceilings and other overhead surfaces.
There exists portable drywall application devices in the prior art that allow users to customize the texture pattern by changing the rate of the compressed air flow. However, there are many commonly used drywall texture patterns, such as knockdown, orange peel, and stucco. Whether freshly applying a particular texture or matching a texture for patch jobs, calibrating the device requires a trial and error process. Therefore, a device that can accommodate a plurality of nozzle fittings, each of which provides a particular texture pattern, is desired.
In view of the above recognized problems, therefore, it is desired to provide a handheld drywall texture application device that is both safe and easy for personal use that can be used to apply drywall texture to any surface.